Head Trauma
by PuffinAlchemist
Summary: Mituna flashback one-shot. Mituna is left alone to defeat one of the game's many monsters after his comrades ignore his warnings and foretellings. His chances are large, but that success will leave him scarred forever. All rights belong to Andrew Hussie.


My head whipped to look at my dear friend, his eyes on the shadow to soon engulf us.

"Kurloz!" I called.

He cocked his head, silent as always. He couldn't do anything, I knew that. We were too far out to get the others. His expression read hopelessness; I didn't have to read the sign language.

I looked back up at the shadow and gulped, its eyes boring down on me. I steeled my jaw, hearing a crackle of anticipation.

"Not yet…" I said to myself, psionic powers where always hard to control. I could feel my hands begin to shake as I watched the monster grow closer. I had no idea what it was, it seemed like a boss from the game, the most likely possibility.

I heard a clack on the ground behind me, and turned for a moment. Kurloz had retreated, knowing what would happen in a moment. My vision had already turned purely red and blue, an aching feeling to anyone else's eyes, but it was normal for me.

As I looked back to the monster, it had taken form. Sort of. It had become a large mix of animals, from a hoofbeast to an octopus and back again. It sent a shiver down my spine, and I was forced to step back. I had to fight this thing? It seemed far beyond my level, far beyond anyone's power in this session. But I had to try, Lord forsake me if I failed.

I outstretched a hand, the familiar tingle of psionic lightning running down my arm in duel succession. This was risky, but I really had to try. I told myself this over and over as the monster approached, feeling my power bursting at the seams.

Finally, I let it go, like the cork on a champagne bottle. It overflowed, bursting out in an uncontrollable wave towards the beast. It staggered, morphing uncontrollably as I shot a few bolts of the lighting towards it to follow almost instantly. It seemed like I was winning.

Knock on wood, Mituna, you idiot. The monster regained its balance quickly, advancing on me. I tried to push it back with the residue of lightning still clinging to it, but the thing must've weighed a good 2 tons. I felt pain build in my head as I tried my hardest to stop it, grabbing at my temples to somehow drag out more power to stop it.

I felt myself brought to my knees, not by the monsters doing but mine. I feebly tried to injure it, the solid red and blue tinges at the edges of my eyes fading. I was losing. I let out a small scream of pain as I shot a few streams of lightning towards it, agony starting to burst my head apart. I couldn't think anymore, vision fading to a sea of unidentifiable colors. I let out one last retaliating burst of power, and slumped onto the ground, static fading in and out of my ears like water. I could no longer feel the monster's presence, uncaring of it any longer. I just wanted to stop hurting. I let my body wrack with sobs of anguish as I curled in on myself to maybe keep the inconceivable ache in my head from tearing my brain into bits.

A tap on my shoulder. I tried to look up, giving up and letting my head hit the ground starkly. Thin bony hands picked me up with care, and something in the back of my mess of a brain I knew it was Kurloz. What about the monster? It would kill him.

"Ku-Kurlo…" I managed to articulate pitiably.

He let out a small hum, as if that would relieve my unspoken worries. It was a victory song. I had killed the monster, somehow. I let my body go limp as aftershock sloshed itself through my body, putting me to sleep through the pain scattering through my head.

Not until later did I realize it was the funeral song of a soldier.

When I came too, I heard voices. They were jumbled, but still voices. Voices I knew. I could feel the springs of a couch beneath me, bouncing on them for a moment. I felt a blanket draped over me, battling its trapping capabilities with my feeble hands. I settled for sitting halfway up, eyes trying their hardest to focus.

"MITUNA!" I heard a feminine voice shriek, arms engulfing me around the neck. Latula, this I knew. She plastered my face with kisses. "Oh my gog we were so fucking worried when Kurloz brought you in! What where you doing?"

I blinked, confused. "Huh?" I didn't know what she was talking about for a moment. My eyes focused over to a few other people, people I could remember. Their faces and names, but not how they reacted to me. Except maybe Latula. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know.

"What do you mean, huh? What did you do to make you nearly die?" Latula asked frantically.

I struggled to form an articulate sentence, face scrunching into intense thought as I moved my tongue and lips in an attempt to remember how to speak again. "I-I re-re-re-really hah-have n… no cl-clu… I dee ah. Wha-what yoo-you're tol-talking about." I stumbled through a somewhat comprehensive sentence.

"Wvhat do you mean you don't knowv?" I looked up, it was… I wracked my brain. Cronus! That was it. "Come one, Tuna, don't be pulling our fins, here." He grinned.

I let my mouth stay slightly open in confusion as I processed the speaking quirk through my muddled brain a few times. "I- I'm t-t-t-t-elling the truh-truth, fucker!" I said angrily, taking offense to his disbelief. "As-ask Kurlos-Kurloz!"

"I can't stupid, he's mute." Cronus ruffled my hair with a grin; then it faded as I shied away from him. He didn't seem good. I really didn't trust him too much. Who was he to me anyway?

Then Latula had my face between her hands, eyes behind her glasses looking deep into my confused ones. "Mituna, are you okay? You don't seem it. What happened?"

"D-don't a-th-ask me!" I yelled spontaneously, not wanting to answer whatever questions she threw at me. I really had no clue whatsoever. I let out a little whimper as a pain shot through my head, jerking from her grasp so I could pull the blanket over me. I peeked up out at her after a moment. Her face was surprised, and hurt.

"I-I-I'm sorry…" I stammered, sniffing to some extent.

"It's fine, Tuna. You don't worry." She stood up, making her way over to Aranea to start yelling. I couldn't make out most of it, wondering what they were saying.

Finally Aranea expeditiously approached me, bending over my pathetic figure. Her smile seemed forced; I burrowed under the blanket a bit more.

"Hey Mituna!" She said brightly, trying to tug the blanket out of my vice-like grip. "Can you sit up for me?"

What was I, a grub? I gave her a dubious look, sitting up as perfunctorily slow as possible.

"Thank you, Mituna." Aranea gave me a grateful look; then began to examine my face. She was murmuring things to Latula, things I couldn't quite make out. I was getting frustrated at this, head still aching. It didn't help when Aranea swept my hair from my eyes, peering closely at my forehead. I looked up in attempt to see what she was so intent at seeing.

"See, Latula, this is exactly what I mean. It's just like the Ψiioniic, I'm telling you." Aranea touched her finger tentatively to my forehead, earning an uncomfortable whine. I didn't want her touching my forehead. It hurt a lot. And who was the Ψiioniic again?

She didn't hear me, for she kept her finger on my forehead as she explained things that I either didn't care about or didn't understand. As she talked I felt my forehead with curious fingers. There were slight ridges protruding from my forehead, connecting like veins. I wondered what could have caused them, then put the puzzle pieces together finally. Something had happened with my psionic powers. I didn't know what, but something had.

Then Aranea was speaking, directed towards me. A request for permission? For what I didn't know. I nodded, unsure what would happen. She ran her finger down one of the connected spines on my forehead, pressing hard. A pain flashed through my head, and I jerked away. She followed with her finger, and I bit her sharply. I tasted blood, and spit a few times.

"Please don't bite me, Mituna." Aranea still kept her sweetness speal going, her finger bleeding freely.

"F-fuck you!" I spat back.

"Mituna, come here. I think you need some food in you." Latula grasped my hand in hers, dragging me into a standing position. I pulled the blanket with me, struggling to keep my balance. After a few averted crisises, I finally faceplanted into the metal plated floor right before the doorway.

I began to wail, straining to stand up again. Latula looked pitifully down at me, glancing around for something. I sat back, watching her disappear for a moment. I let tears stream down my face, wondering if she would ever come back. She finally did, producing a very bulky helmet. She plunked it onto my head, bending down and doing the clip.

"There we go, Mituna." She patted me on the shoulder, hefting me up again. "See, now you won't hurt your head."

I nodded in response, nearly falling over again. "O-okay."

As I sat in the kitchen, eating an orange creamsicle, I could understand other's conversations better. I focused in on the one that contained mostly everyone else, with the exception of Kurloz and Meulin, who where talking to eachother in sign language with worried expressions. I watched Latula, her upset denying face. I let the cream drip onto my blanket for a moment, before licking up the drippy bits. The only word I heard repeated over and over in the conversation was 'useless.'

"..He's mothaglubbin' useless!"

"I agree, he is useless, but there's no need to use such crude language my sea dwelling friend, maybe something more appropriate..."

"You hawve one useless matesprit right there…"

"He is not useless!"

"Hey, it's not that bad. He may be useless, but he's kinda cute like that…"

"Thanks Rufioh, but I'm starting to believe he is useless."

"Do+n't be do+wn sweetheart. I will admit, he's no+t much o+f a use anymo+re…"

Was I useless? I didn't want to be. Everyone said I was. But there wasn't much there to deny it anymore. I was useless. Useless for being a hero. I knocked on the helmet, looking through its visor sadly. I guess that's what I would be for the rest of the session.

I looked at what was left of my creamsicle. It had fallen apart and melted onto the table. Another disappointment.


End file.
